Lockheed Martin hands over Bulgarian Air Force’s first F-16

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin handed over the Bulgarian Air Force’s first F-16 Block 70 multi-role fighter at a ceremony at its Greenville, South Carolina plant on January 31, Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry said.

By the end of March – beginning of April 2025, there will be two new multi-role fighters on Bulgarian soil, the ministry said.

The first two aircraft are a single-seater D-model and a two-seater C-model.

Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said that the third F-16 is already ready, but it will remain at the Lockheed Martin plant in Greenville for the training of the Bulgarian engineering and technical staff.

The remaining five aircraft are also on the assembly line, so by the end of 2025 Bulgaria will receive all eight F-16s that Lockheed Martin is producing under the first contract signed by the governments of Bulgaria and the United States in 2019.

“The F-16 Block 70 aircraft is a completely new, fourth-generation aircraft with enormous capabilities,” Zapryanov said.

“It is a multi-role fighter, unlike the Bulgarian MiG-29 and Su-25 that we have in service,” he said.

The second contract, signed in 2022 for the acquisition of a further eight F-16 Block 70 aircraft, will be implemented by the end of 2027, the ministry statement said.

“The ratification of this contract has been completed, the preparation for its implementation is going according to plan, there is no doubt that after the successful completion of the first contract this year, the implementation of the second contract for the second eight aircraft will begin. We will expect these aircraft after 2026-2027 in Bulgaria,” Minister Zapryanov pointed out.

The programme for training the flight and engineering and technical staff is going according to schedule, he said.

Five Bulgarian pilots will be trained for the first two aircraft.

“The training programme is part of the contract and is important for us. We are not only buying aircraft, simulators, weapons and ammunition. We have also included the training of the flight crew for over $150 million,” Zapryanov said.

Under the two contracts for the acquisition of the 16 multi-role fighters in the United States, a total of 32 pilots will be trained – 14 under the first contract and 18 under the second.

Of the Graf Ignatievo air base in Bulgaria, the subject of concern about delays in readying it to receive the F-16s, Zapryanov said: “We are renovating everything at the air base. We are confident that the sites that need to be certified to receive the aircraft will be completed”.

The construction of the aircraft shelters will continue throughout 2025, after the arrival of the first two aircraft, as well as the remaining six.

“We have a one-year contract to build 16 shelters for all 16 aircraft. Two more mobile hangars will be built, as well as other facilities that will allow the airbase to be fully ready to store the aircraft, according to the requirements of Lockheed Martin,” Zapryanov said.

(Photo: Defence Ministry)

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